Join Steve Keane and Joe McDonald tonight at 9PM ET for another edition of PRO BASEBALL CENTRAL. We will dissect the latest snubs by Bengi Molina and Joel Pineiro of the Mets and we will discuss which way the Mets will turn to solidify their starting pitching and a front line catcher. We will look at which Mets prospects could rise from a spring training to make the final 25 man roster and a host of other Mets and baseball news,

You can join in as well with comments and question by calling in at (646) 595-4462.

If you can’t join us live you can download the podcast at The Eddie Kranepool Society, BlogTalkRadio or at our PRO BASEBALL CENTRAL site.

I don’t know if it’s just frustration or that there is in power struggle between J-Man and Omar but some of Jerry Manuel’s moves have me puzzled. His choice of Fernando Tatis as and everyday player and burying Daniel Murphy on the bench is ridiculous. Tatis has been a great addition to the Mets but for Christ sake he ‘s not Lou Gehrig, he’s a very good utility guy who produces when used sparingly. Please, FREE DANIEL MURPHY at put him at first base. Same with Ryan Church can you leave the guy in RF? Let F-Mart platoon with Sheffield in LF because as great as Sheff has been he’s is 40 years old and can not play every day.

So now John Maine joins the walking wounded with a “tired arm”. How much you want to bet this is another line of happy horseshit from Flushing ?

PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! Don’t tell me that Nelly Figs is coming up for Maine. I don’t care what Jon Neise’ numbers are in Buffalo bring him up and let him pitch and stop burying this kid. ENOUGH OF NELSON FIGUEROA already!

You’ll read no more criticism of D-Wright or Carols Beltran here as both of these guys have stepped up and gone above and beyond the call of duty. If I were managing a team against the Mets I’d never give either guy a pitch to hit I’d take my chances with the other six guys in the lineup.

 

 

 

Maybe it’s that phenomena of the Mets playing down to the competition as they come off a 2-4 abbreviated road trip against the Bucs and Nats the suck and suck more teams of baseball and now the biggest three weeks of the Mets 2009 season starts tomorrow here in the Greatest City on the Planet against the Phucking Phillies in the biggest series of the season.

 

To start off this series I sat with an enemy correspondent , Bill Bear of Crashburn Alley who has been a guest on PRO BASEBALL CENTRAL and a guy I like to e mail back and forth during the season as I like to be an annoying ball breaker but even though Bill has a major character flaw being a Phucking Phillies fan he’s a good guy and is always great when he comes on PBC and I like his in depth stat work on Crashburn Alley so click here to read the Q & A I did with Bill .

 

Over at Jorge Says No they have a very good interview with Wally Backman who is now managing in the Northern League for the Joilet Jackhamers. Backman of course would love to get a shot at a big league managerial job and the hard work as a player and perseverance as a manager at the most obscure outposts of baseball only make his resolve stronger. Maybe some day he will be back in Flushing where his work ethic and passion for the game would be a boost for the organization and the fans.

 

Doug Branch at Mets Merized Online is getting drawn and quartered for a post that suggests that the Mets might look at being sellers and if they do maybe Carlos Beltran would be the guy to trade. Well if you read the comments Branch is called out for not only suggesting that the Mets become sellers but think about trading Beltran. I won’t speak for Branch but as for myself I’ll say I don’t want the Mets to be sellers and I don’t want to deal off Beltran but as I wrote in a post over the weekend maybe it’s time for the front office and ownership to take stock in what it is the team and what this franchise is looking to accomplish. The reason I think like this is that as much as I think Omar Minaya has done a pretty good job he could do much better and I never feel like there is a plan in place or a course of action for this team. Sure Omar went out and retooled the bullpen to the point it’s one of the best in baseball but he never addressed the need for a left fielder with power and seems to be more enthralled with finding players left on the side of the curb than being creative in making a deal for bona fide major league talent.

 

It is good though to see the Mets fan exuding passion like the commentators are doing on that site and of course here. Too bad that ownership is to inept to realize what a great fan base they have.

 

 

The Mets Police checked out the cuisine at Highlander Stadium and found it to be overpriced and bland just like its tenants.

 

After watching my kid’s soccer games yesterday I had to make a trip to the mall to buy a sports jacket (one that didn’t have METS or an NY on it but a sports jacket that adult men wear. The two that I own are way too big and my son is graduating from grammar school this Friday and I need to dress up like a grown up so hence the sports jacket. I guess it’s a shame that a soon to be 51 year old man owns just two pair of slacks but 12 pairs of jeans, and has more than 200 t-shirts and maybe three dress shirts, one pair of shoes but  2 pair of Cons’ 3 pair of running shoes, 2 pair of basketball shoes, and 2 pair of baseball cleats and the only neck ties I have are hand me downs from my brothers. I’d be more than happy to live everyday in shorts, a t shirt, flip flops and my Mets cap) when I returned home I relaxed by watching the Padres-D’Backs game that went to 18 innings. I picked the game up in the 10^th inning and when it ended in the 18^th I realized the D’Backs bullpen did not give up a hit from the 10^th to the 18^th inning an extra inning no hitter! The D’Backs blew a 6-0 lead and the Padres had shortstop Josh Wilson pitch the 18^th and he almost got out of jam with two on and 0-2 count on Mark Reynolds before Reynolds put one just over the right field wall. Wilson by the way was a D’Back just a month ago before he was claimed by the Padres. Even stranger was of the 27,000 plus who were in attendance for the beginning of the game morphed into empty seats by the 18^th inning.

 

I’ll leave you with this from Henry Aaron on the release of Tom Glavine and the apology from John Schuerholz:

 

“I wouldn’t have said anything if I were John Schuerholz. I think that was a mistake, because it was a no-win situation in his case, as much as [Schuerholz] tried to patch up the differences,” Aaron said. Then he laughed, adding, “This is the first time I’ve ever been on management’s side. I mean, Glavine got paid very well through the years to play here, and there’s never a good way to handle these situations. But if you’re the Braves, you’ve got to throw those kids out there and let them pitch. If you’re Glavine, you have to be gracious enough to step aside.”

 

Why don’t the Glavines of any sport do so? “The hardest thing for anybody — especially athletes — is to wake up in the morning and realize everything has stopped for them,” Aaron said. “The cheering. The booing. The traveling. All the things that you used to be doing are no longer there, and it’s hard for you to realize that, along with the idea of losing all of the money that I made. It’s just not there any more.

 

If you saw the back page of the Daily News this morning you’d think “oh shit” but then when you read the story you say “what’s the big deal”?:

 

And asked if he could be certain that he’ll return to the Mets at some point during the 2009 season, Delgado said: “I can’t guarantee that. But it looks that that’s going to be the case. The most important thing is to get better, get healthy, that you can perform effectively, and that’s our goal.

 

“I think that’s going to happen sometime this year, but I can’t guarantee nothing.”

 

 

So he feels he can get back this year but who knows what set backs he could endure during his rehab. Makes sense no?

 

Joe Janish hits a home run in his post at Mets Today on Fernando Martinez and the lazy ass culture of the Mets. I went over this last night with Joe McDonald on PRO BASEBALL CENTRAL. Larry Brooks in a story in yesterday Post said the same thing that the Mets are known for non-hustle and I agree. Delgado has been a culprit as has Beltran at times, Reyes has not hustled on numerous occasions and the fan fav Mike Piazza dogged it regularly (Yeah Joe Mac Piazza dogged it!!) Now most of this non ass busting is not to maligners but down right laziness. The more I think of young Martinez not busting it the other day the more pissed off I am at him and at J-Man for not taking him off the field. As I said last night, I’m trying not to rush to judgment on F-Mart as it’s just two games but do far I don’t see what the big fuss is about this kid and maybe it would have been more beneficial to him to leave him in Buffalo for the whole season.

 

Mets Grrl in her continuing endeavor to make $iti Field a better place for Mets fans and to help straighten out this clueless ownership has a third installment of her letter writing campaign this time to have the Skill Sets acknowledge the history of the NY Mets in $iti Field. This prove how pathetic the Skill Sets are when it comes to knowing it’s fan base that you actually have to pressure them to celebrate the franchise history.

 

You may have read the Tyler Kepner piece in the Times the other day where he reports on Nolan Ryan and Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux are going back to old school tactics with the Rangers pitchers throughout the organization to go deeper into games and not be a slave to pitch counts. All I can say is HALLE-FUCKING-LUJAH!!!!!! I would hope the Mets would get in on this retro trend as well. It has to start in the low minors as it’s time pitchers learned how to pitch and how to pitch out of trouble. Too many guys stand on that mound when they are in a jam ready to shit themselves while looking toward the bullpen for help. I couldn’t give a rat’s ass about the minor league teams records and winning the fucking Sally League Championship, how about teaching not only pitchers but all players in the organization the proper way to play baseball. You can shove the NY-PENN League Championship Banners up Jeffey’s ass.

 

For a much calmer look at pitch counts check out Mike Silva’s NYBD and his thoughts on this.

 

 

Join us tonight for Pro Baseball Central at 9PM Eastern on Blog Talk Radio We will talk Mets Yankees and all the news and views around MLB Our guest tonight will be Ben Kabak of the Yankee blog River Ave Blues

Click here to listen live

or click on the link to the right for the podcast

I’ve been running tons of errands this morning (got to get to Shop Rite before them blue haired ladies clog the aisles) and I’m running baseball practice this afternoon so I’m putting my plan together but I just wanted to remind everyone that tomorrow night is Pro Baseball Central on Blog Talk Radio and Joe Mc Donald and I will preview the upcoming 2009 season with a look at the divisions and pennant and World Series predictions and as always your call are encouraged so join in the conversation at (646) 595-4462

 

Join Steve Keane and Joe McDonald tonight on a WEDNESDAY edition of Pro Baseball Central as we look at how the 25 man rosters for the Mets and Yankees are shaping up and some WBC talk as well,  plus a look around the baseball training camps. You can join in the converstation on our call in line (646) 595-4462 at 9PM EDST on Blog Talk Radio 

Yes I still hate the WBC but I did watch the end of that Dominican-Holland games last night and yes it was a classic baseball game and the look on the players and manager Felipe Alou of Team D R was that of devistation but I’m just happy that Jose Reyes and Fernando Tatis are on the way back to St Lonesome

 

A  special Wednesday night edition of Pro Baseball Central is on deck for 9PM EST tonight so join Joe McDonald and yours truly for 90 minutes of Mets, Highlanders, A-Rod, Manny and what ever else is going on in baseball talk and we want you to join us by calling in at (646) 595-4462

 

I have to agree with Joel Sherman as he points out that we shouldn’t get too wrapped up in spring training results. I know how tough it is though as just seeing the images on line and on TV shows plus the calendar ready to turn to March just makes us giddy knowing that the witch’s tit weather is almost behind us.

 

Sherman also touches a subject that if you say you didn’t think about, you’re full of shit.

 

And with all that what did I do yesterday afternoon? I watched the Giants-Indians on TV. I saw on the channel guide that the game was going to be on MLB Network at 3PM. So I turn to channel 213 on my DirecTV and instead of seeing Tim Linceum and Grady Sizemore I get a tape of guys in flannel uniforms running the bases. Now even though I’m not getting excited about the results of spring training doesn’t mean I won’t watch the games so now I’m in a fit screaming “Ah what the fuck” about 10 times until through the magic of DirecTV Sports Package I go to Sports Time Ohio and there it is, Cactus League baseball. Now remember what I said, don’t get to involved with spring training games<must go to lunch at 1:30 at Mudville 9 on Chambers St to watch Mets-Marlins today on TV> Oh and check out that link to Awful Announcing as they have a list of all the spring training games the MLB Network will show, which is like a game every day just about, but yeah don’t get wrap up in …………………..

 

Yes it’s great that Gimp was hitting and the President of Big Apple Tours (Ryan Church) has as well but let’s not stake out a spot on Broadway for the parade just yet. I will say this though, there were a lot of hits that were to the opposite field which vindicates J-Man’s 80 pitches in 5 minute drill to the point Billy Mays will be pimping the video soon on an infomercial near you.    

 

Mets Geek has a great post on Nick Evans with all the facts and figures you need to say “why no love for Nicky E”

 

Just when I was coming to grips that Manny won’t be a Met and sipping on a large glass of “we have enough offense” Kool Aid, I’m getting palpitations just reading how Manny and Scott Boras are begging the Dodgers to sign him and if he does sign for 1yr or 1 yr with an option it may take me few days to calm down. I’m talking sitting in a closet with no contact with human life kind of sulking. Yeah I agree I got to get out more.

 

Don’t forget PRO BASEBALL CENTRAL tonight 9PM EST tune in and call in (646) 595-4462.